Scientists have known that depriving adult mice of vision can increase the sensitivity of individual neurons (神经元)in the part of the brain devoted to hearing. New research from biologists at the University of Maryland __26__ that sight deprivation also changes the way brain cells __27__ with one another, shifting the mice's sensitivity to different frequencies.

“This study __28__ what we are learning about how manipulating vision can have a __29__ effect on the ability of an animal to hear long after the window for auditory (听觉的)learning was thought to have __30__ J said Patrick Kanold, senior author of the study.

It was once thought that the sensory regions of the brain were not __31__ after a critical period in childhood. This is why children learn languages much more __32__ than adults. Kanold's earlier research disproved this idea by showing that depriving adult mice of vision for a short period increased the sensitivity of individual neurons in the auditory cortex (皮质),which is devoted to hearing.

Young brains wire themselves according to the sounds they hear frequently, assigning areas of the auditory cortex to __33__ frequencies based on what they are used to hearing. The researchers found that, in adult mice, a week in the dark also changed the __34__ of space to different frequencies.

“We don't know why we are seeing these patterns,“ Kanold said. "We __35__ that it may have to do with what the mice are paying attention to while they are in the dark.